Synthesis, characterization and photocatalytic activity of Mg1_xCuxO nanoparticles for wastewater treatment

We synthesized Mg1_ xCuxO (x = 0, 2%, 4%, 6% and 8%) nanoparticles by coprecipitation method. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), UV-visible spectroscopy (UV-Visible), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and photocatalytic studies were carried out to analyze the prepared nanoparticles. The XRD results confirmed the cubic structure of Mg1_xCuxO nanoparticles. Moreover, crystallite size, dislocation density and microstrain were investigated by Debye Scherrer and Williamson Hall (W-H) methods. The UV-visible studies of Mg1_xCuxO nanoparticles revealed a reduction in optical band gap energy from 5.34 to 3.74 eV. The SEM micrographs showed uniformly dispersed spherical nanoparticles of average diameter of 54.25 nm with increasing Cu concentration up to 8%. The photocatalytic studies indicated that 8% Cu dopant concentration can reduce the absorption intensity of methylene blue (MB) dye to 31% of its original intensity under sunlight exposure for 120 min. Hence, Cu doped MgO nanoparticles can be used as a photocatalyst in industrial appli-cation for water treatment.